According to Attorney General Steve Marshall, Brenda Palmer, the previous Interim Chief School Financial Officer of Montgomery County Public Schools, has been found guilty of four felony counts connected to the embezzlement of $291,000 from the educational institution.
Instead of facing trial on Monday, Palmer has opted to plead guilty to two felony ethics charges and two felony counts of lying to the Attorney General’s Office about a matter under investigation. Due to her prior conviction of first-degree theft of property, she will be sentenced as a habitual felony offender. Palmer could face a sentence of 10 to 99 years for the ethics charges and two to 20 years for the lying charges.
Marshall emphasized that betraying the trust of the public is a serious offense that will not be tolerated in our state. He was appalled by Mrs. Palmer’s flagrant corruption and complete disregard for the law, which left him astounded.
“We are committed to uncovering and punishing those who take advantage of the public sector for their own benefit,” stated the representative from our office.
Marshall’s office has revealed that Palmer played a vital role in a fraudulent billing scheme that duped the school system out of $291,367 from November 2017 to April 2019. Walter James, the former vice principal of Jefferson Davis High School, was Palmer’s accomplice in the scheme. He has already pleaded guilty in both state and federal court and is currently serving a 60-month prison term for his involvement in the illegal operation.
According to Marshall’s office, James implemented a fraudulent scheme by submitting invoices from almost twelve fictitious companies that claimed to offer books, professional development, and other goods or services to various MPS entities. However, in reality, Palmer and James were aware that no such goods or services were being provided.
With James’ assistance, Palmer created fraudulent invoices, but she did not stop there. She used her authority as CSFO to make sure that these invoices were paid without any suspicion. To avoid detection, Palmer went to great lengths, including forging the names of at least two employees on checks and other written documents. She even directed her subordinates to work overtime to prepare legitimate checks, so that the fraudulent ones would be less likely to be noticed. Such cunning tactics highlight the extent to which Palmer was willing to go to cover up her wrongdoing.
According to Marshall’s office, Palmer sorted out the fake checks from the real ones and handed them over to James personally. This step was crucial because the checks displayed addresses of fictitious companies that either did not exist or were impossible to locate. Once James had deposited the MPS checks into his Navy Federal Credit Union account, he paid Palmer the exact amounts she had requested in cash, as evidenced by the text messages exchanged between the two.
During the 2019 audit of the MPS system by the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts, examiners asked for supporting documents for several fraudulent checks. To produce these files, Palmer was requested to provide assistance. However, instead of complying with the request, Palmer shredded the check files and claimed that she had bypassed procedures to ensure vendors were paid. This information was revealed by Marshall’s office.
Palmer resigned after facing the new CSFO and was able to retain her earned pension even after pleading guilty.
According to Marshall’s office, Palmer willingly participated in two interviews with state investigators. However, during both of these interviews, she repeatedly lied about her involvement in the scheme, her knowledge about it, her relationship with Walter James, and all other aspects of the state’s investigation. Shockingly, Palmer even lied about having spoken with James only two weeks prior to the interviews.
Little did she know, James had already started working with state and federal authorities, and had even recorded a phone call with Palmer, according to the attorney general’s office. During their conversation, Palmer advised James to avoid sending text messages and to claim that certain addresses for the fraudulent companies had existed. Additionally, she instructed him to deny seeing the woman in question when he received the fake checks. Most shockingly, she urged James to falsely shift the blame onto an innocent third party, who worked in the Accounts Payable Department of MPS, simply because he was white.
Montgomery County Circuit Judge James Anderson is set to hold a sentencing hearing for Palmer at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 3. As Palmer is a habitual felony offender, she could potentially receive a sentence ranging from 10 to 99 years on the two ethics charges, as well as two to 20 years on the charges of lying.
According to Marshall, due to the severity of Palmer’s offenses, her continuous deceit, her efforts to sway James, and her reluctance to acknowledge her actions until the day of the trial, the state will aim for a prison sentence. Marshall further emphasized that had the case gone to trial, a jury would have heard a plethora of evidence that would have undoubtedly incriminated Palmer.
According to Palmer’s counsel, they have expressed their intention to request a community corrections sentence as an alternative punishment for Palmer. This type of sentence would enable Palmer to evade imprisonment or jail time.
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